Merrickville, Burritts Rapids and Andrewsville have the distinction of being the oldest settlement on the Lower Rideau. Well before the Rideau Canal, Messrs Merrick, Burritt and Andrews were carving their niche out of the woods and leaving their legacy in the form of the Villages named for them.

For the last 40 years the Historical Society has been accumulating important documents from this area in the form of land titles, correspondence, family bibles and albums, newspapers and photographs which together form an irreplaceable legacy of life in this area. Until recently, these documents were filed away, sometimes in precarious condition and always generally inaccessible to the public, and even to the families whose history they portrayed.

Thanks to the efforts over the last several years of many Historical society volunteers, some 3000 such records can now be accessed for observation and research at the Merrickville Public Library. The Library has established a special "heritage" room within which the computer records of the Historical Society and the genealogical records of Alice Hughes are now accessible.

Members of the Public are invited and encouraged to view the Historical Society Archival Data Base in the Library and to dig a little deeper into Merrickville's history. Merrickville Public Library Librarian, Mary Kate Lapin, will be delighted to show you the Heritage Room and to assist you with accessing the Archives.

The project owes its success and its gratitude to the many volunteers of the Historical Society, and funding from the estate of Tomas Manning, the Ontario Trillium Foundation two grants and the Corporation of the Village of Merrickville.